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14 And since Jeroboam and the kings of Israel that followed him would not allow any Levites to serve as priests, most Levites left their towns and pasturelands in Israel and moved to Jerusalem and other towns in Judah. 15 (A) Jeroboam chose his own priests to serve at the local shrines[a] in Israel and at the places of worship where he had set up statues of goat-demons and of calves.

16 But some of the people from Israel wanted to worship the Lord God, just as their ancestors had done. So they followed the priests and Levites to Jerusalem, where they could offer sacrifices to the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. 11.15 local shrines: The Hebrew text has “high places,” which were local places to worship foreign gods.

14 The Levites(A) even abandoned their pasturelands and property(B) and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the Lord 15 when he appointed(C) his own priests(D) for the high places and for the goat(E) and calf(F) idols he had made. 16 Those from every tribe of Israel(G) who set their hearts on seeking the Lord, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

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